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Article In: Gesture: Online-First Articles

Commitment beyond words

Comparing pointing and verbal reference in ambiguous contexts

ORCiD logo with link | Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg
 | Goethe University Frankfurt
 | Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg
 | TU Dortmund University
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Abstract
Commitment is pivotal in communication, as speakers are held accountable for what they convey and may suffer reputational consequences after false statements. While commitment has traditionally been associated with verbal assertions, everyday communication often also involves gestures. We investigated whether commitment attribution differs between purely verbal reference and reference established through the combination of speech and pointing under conditions of referential ambiguity. In two experiments, participants were asked to select objects to which an avatar was either pointing or referring verbally. Across both experiments, pointing gestures elicited commitment-related judgements similar to verbal reference, regardless of the ambiguity or correctness of gesture and speech. Furthermore, the results revealed that verbal reference and pointing gestures triggered similar pragmatic inferences in partly ambiguous contexts. These findings show that commitment may be attributed to speakers as much as to gesturers and highlight the importance of integrating gestures into theories of commitment, assertion, and pragmatic inference.
Article outline
  • Introduction
    • Research question and outline
    • Gestures and speech
    • Referential ambiguity of pointing gesture
    • Semantic and pragmatic ambiguity
    • Theoretical predictions
  • Experiment 1
    • Methods
      • Participants
      • Stimulus and apparatus
      • Procedure
      • Data analysis
    • Results
      • Choices
      • Ratings
    • Short discussion
  • Experiment 2
    • Method
      • Participants
      • Stimulus and procedure
      • Data analysis
    • Results
      • Choices
      • Ratings
    • Short discussion
  • General discussion
    • Limitations
    • Relation to previous experimental and theoretical work
    • Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • References
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